Apprentice in Death (In Death #43)(106)

“Assault with a fizzy.”

Peabody didn’t crack a smile as Willow hooted in disdain.

“I’ll make it stick, you ungrateful little shit.”

It seemed the challenging had begun, Eve noted, saying nothing until Peabody took her seat, sipped from her own drink.

“Tell me about Alaska.”

“It’s cold.”

“Your father states that you and he planned to relocate there. That, according to your alternate plan, should something go wrong, happen to him, you were to make your way there.”

“Alaska? About as lame as Susann. Sure I liked seeing it, doing some hunting the couple times we checked it out. No way would we live up there.”

“He was very clear you would.”

“If we needed a place to lay low for a few months, sure, that would do it. Mostly, I went along with him because he needed to hear it. It helped keep him focused on the mission.”

“So you didn’t intend to make your way there, as outlined, after his arrest?”

“I like the city. It’s fine spending some time out west, even up there in Nanook country, but I wasn’t going to drag my ass all the way to Alaska. Plus, I finish what I start.”

“Which you proved by targeting Jonah Rothstein and seventeen other bystanders at Madison Square Garden. But after that, you’d have run into a problem. Were you aware we’d identified your other targets and had them in protective custody?”

“Yeah, yeah. BFD.”

“Is that why you returned to your family home rather than the location you and your father had chosen should you need to remain in New York?”

“They’re not my family, okay?” Those green eyes gleamed with disgust. “Bio-tube, her banging buddy, and the brat they spawned. That’s it. It’s a house, and it’s as much mine as anybody’s. I got my stuff there.”

“Not all of it.”

“So you took my electronics. BFD-squared. I had backups.”

“Right. We’ve got them now, too. I wonder, will EDD find any backups to the documents you tried to hide on your brother’s comp?”

Surprise sparked first, then anger. Quickly followed by a so-the-fuck-what smirk. “He’s not my brother.”

“Same mother—or ‘bio-tube,’ if you prefer. Were you going to snap his neck the way you did his little dog’s?”

Though she sipped from her fizzy, Willow couldn’t hide the quick grin. “Why would I waste my time with a stupid dog?”

“Because it was fun. Because your brother loved it. Because you could.”

“He’s not my brother. And so what if I did? Are you going to charge me with dog killing?”

“Animal cruelty,” Peabody supplied. Willow yawned.

“Go ahead, add it on. Like I care. Like it means a damn thing.”

“You killed the dog, then tossed its body out the window in front of your brother—”

“I said—open your fucking ears—he’s not my brother.”

“You admit to these acts?”

“I broke the little fleabag’s neck, tossed him out. If that’s what you want to talk about, I’m done here.”

“Oh, we have more. Let’s talk about your separate agenda or mission. Your separate list of targets, which you attempted to hide on—we’ll just call him Zach—on Zach’s computer.”

“They monitor mine like prison guards. Zoe thinks I don’t know she goes in my room, goes through my things? The bitch is on my case 24/7, and did jack shit when that perv she married went at me.”

“He never went at you.”

“My word against his.”

“I’d like the details,” Reo put in, and made notes on her pad. “When this incident, or incidents, happened. What he did.”

“She’s lying,” Eve said.

“She has a right to tell her side of it. Did Lincoln Stuben sexually or physically assault you? If so, please detail the circumstances, the number of incidents, the times.”

“Bored. Bored. Bored. He wanted to do me, but I can take care of myself.”

“Did you have an altercation?”

“‘Did you have an altercation?’” Willow mimicked. “Sure, plenty of them. He was always trying to tell me what to do, how to do it. Always bitching about showing respect. I don’t have to respect some loser.”

“Which is why he was on your list,” Eve put in. “You had him, your mother, your brother, your school counselor, the principal. Oh, and you had a blueprint of your school.”

“Not hard to come by. Marksmanship’s not my only skill.”

“So noted. You planned to attack the school? To kill students, teachers, others.”

“It was a thought.” Gazing at the ceiling again, Willow circled her finger in the air. “Can’t charge me with thinking.”

“You returned to the townhouse, used the room on the third floor, added another alarm to alert you if somone came in.”

“So what?”

“You were lying in wait. They’d come home eventually, right? And there you’d be. How did you figure to do it? Just walk down, ‘Hi, everybody,’ and blast them where they stood?”